1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a merchandise simulator system and a merchandise simulator device which are able to provide merchandise information on the outer appearance, function and the like of a selected piece of merchandise without actually touching the piece of merchandise and, in particular, to a merchandise simulator system and device in which a user can display a selected piece of merchandise on the display section of a user's terminal with a plurality of view points by operating the user's terminal, and, by executing a simulation input with respect to the operation part of the thus displayed piece of merchandise, the user terminal can carry out a simulation operation on the various functions of the displayed piece of merchandise, thereby allowing the user to perform an operation to confirm the outer appearance, function and the like of the present piece.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in order to obtain merchandise information on the outer appearance, function and the like of a certain piece of merchandise, a user sees the piece of merchandise actually to thereby know the outer appearance thereof and operates the operation part of the piece practically to thereby know the function thereof.
However, to see and operate the piece actually, the user must go to a place where the piece is exhibited, which is inconvenient for the user. Especially, under the recent market circumstances in which various kinds of merchandise have been widely developed and supplied, it is difficult for the user to obtain accurate merchandise information on a desired piece of merchandise efficiently and positively.
There exists a conventional device which allows the user to know the outer appearance of a desired piece of merchandise without actually touching it, for example, there is known a videotex terminal device which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 63-6986 (which will be hereinafter referred to as "first prior art"). According to the first prior art, the videotex terminal device is structured such that a plurality of images obtained by viewing the same object from different directions are stored therein, and the image of the present object viewed from a specified direction is displayed on a display unit.
Also, as another conventional technology, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 5-225354 (which will be hereinafter referred to as "second prior art"), there is known a three-dimensional graphic display device which is structured such that, when a three-dimensional figure displayed by shaded representation on a display is rotated, moved, enlarged or reduced, the shaded figure is temporarily switched over to a wire frame representation, in which the shape of the figure is represented only by lines, and is rotated, and, after rotation, the wire frame representation is returned back to the shaded representation.
That is, if these prior art technologies are used, then the outer appearance of the piece of merchandise can be exhibited to users from various angles, which makes it possible for the users to understand the outer appearance of the piece from diversified angles.
However, the additional value of the piece of merchandise depends not only on the outer appearance thereof but also on the essential function thereof and, therefore, even if the outer appearance of the piece is exhibited in a diversified manner using the above-mentioned prior art technologies, such exhibition is not sufficient for the users.
In view of this, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Bei. 6-41805 (which will be hereinafter referred to as "third prior art"), there is disclosed a coordinate device which is structured such that the personal data of a user and the merchandise information specified by the user are transmitted to a sales agent, while the sales agent makes up the image and pressure data of the merchandise corresponding to the personal data of the user and the specified merchandise information and then sends them to the user.
That is, according to the third prior art, not only the outer appearance of the piece of merchandise such as a dress or the like is displayed, but also an image representing the appearance of the user when the user wears the dress is displayed on a display and, in accordance with the pressure data indicating the wearing feeling of the user, a pressure is applied to a pressure device which is attached to the user.
Further, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 5-274326 (which will be hereinafter referred to as "fourth prior art"), there are disclosed merchandise presentation method and device in which various pieces of merchandise catalog information are stored in the form of electronic multi-media information such as texts, graphics, still images, moving images, voices and the like, and, in response to a retrieval request from a user, the merchandise information can be supplied on an interactive basis.
That is, according to the fourth prior art, by supplying the user with the multi-media information on the merchandise on an interactive basis, visual support can be given to the user in customizing the merchandise.
As represented by the above-mentioned third and fourth prior art technologies, in recent years, it has been important that not only the information on the outer appearance of a piece of merchandise is exhibited but also the information on the function of the piece is supplied as if the user was actually using the piece.
However, according to the above-mentioned third prior art, there is required hardware such as a pressure device and the like and, therefore, the application range of the third prior art is limited to a specific field such as clothes or the like, which makes it difficult for the third prior art to be applied to various kinds of merchandise.
Further, the fourth prior art is truly suitable to customize the color of the merchandise or the combination of different pieces of merchandise, but it does not allow the user to simulate the function of the merchandise itself.
Therefore, it is now important how to provide the user with the information on the functions of various kinds of merchandise as if the user was actually using the present one.
Especially, in recent years, the WWW (World Wide Web) is in the limelight as an information supply tool on the INTERNET which is a worldwide scale network and, therefore, it is important to simulate the functions of the merchandise to be publicized in the WWW.
That is, in the WWW, if various member terminals request information on selected one or more pieces of merchandise through the INTERNET from an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) server which makes public various kinds of information on merchandise, then the terminals are able to obtain various kinds of public data such as texts, images, voices and the like and, in view of this, various kinds of information on new products developed by various enterprises have been recently registered in the HTTP server.
Thus, if there can be introduced a system which allows the merchandise to be simulated as if a user was actually using the merchandise through the WWW, then the value of use of the WWW with respect to the merchandise can be enhanced further.